Tony Jones: Spiritual Practices

September 24, 2019 joanna seibert

“We all might long for the spiritual direction that Adam received when he walked with God in the Garden…but we live east of Eden.”

Tony Jones in The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life (Zondervan 2005)

Tony Jones has compiled an easily readable compendium of spiritual practices that help us connect to God. The secret of the book is in the subtitle, Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life. We do not need to live in a monastery to practice these disciplines. Jones also brings in interesting notes about the history of how each practice began and developed. His book is first divided into contemplative practices such as silence, reading, the Jesus Prayer, centering prayer, meditation, Ignatian exercises, icons, spiritual direction, and the daily office. The second half of the book talks about active bodily spiritual practices such as the labyrinth, stations of the cross, pilgrimages, fasting, bodily prayers, Sabbath, and service. Lastly, he writes about developing a rule of life and gives us a short readable bibliography for each practice as well as a list of Christian spiritual classics.

I use Jones’ book as a reference especially when I am feeling disconnected from God. I first reread the sections in the book about the spiritual practices I am using in my rule of life to see something I have been missing. Next, I read in Tony’s book about a spiritual discipline that I am presently not using to try during this dry period. I also look over his list of books about the disciplines and the classics and pick out one to read. I have recommended the book as a way for someone to become immersed in the spiritual disciplines.

The Sacred Way can be a guide to tasting each practice perhaps a week or a month at a time. My favorite chapters keep changing. Today I identify most with the section on the Jesus prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” The prayer has been my constant mantra when I am fearful or impatient or meeting with someone with whom I am having difficulty. I identify with Tony Jones when he writes, “the Jesus Prayer has become very significant to me, maybe more than any other practice I’ve investigated, and it’s an important part of my Rule of Life.”

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Jones: Doubt

September 23, 2019 joanna seibert

“The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” —Alan Jones.

I first heard this quote attributed to Alan Jones, former dean of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, at a Trinity Wall Street conference at Kanuga in 2001. It warmed my heart when I heard Jones affirm this, and I have shared it with so many others since. Anne Lamott is also a writer and speaker to whom many attribute the quote. Theological friends tell me it is actually from Paul Tillich’s work, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, pp. 116-117! I will stop here at tracking it down; but I am certain the sentence is scriptural in its wisdom as well. I share it with so many who come for spiritual direction in regard to their doubts.

Jones, in his book, Soul Making: The Desert Way of Spirituality, writes about doubt and the finding and nurturing of the soul according to the spirituality of the Desert Fathers. The spirituality of the desert involves encountering God; but subsequently feeling God’s absence; and then experiencing the divine joy of God’s presence again. Jones describes this threefold experience of soul making after an awakening with the first conversion that entails self-knowledge, often with tears; the second conversion, in which things seem to fall apart; and the third conversion, that occurs when we enter the life of contemplation.

These awakening periods have recurred for me at so many times along the way: at church camps; when I suddenly decided to go to medical school; during my discernment process for the diaconate; and at Cursillo.. The conversion of self-knowledge with tears came to me, as well as the falling apart, when I decided my only hope was to enter a 12-step program. It also came when people close to me: my grandfather, my mother, my father, and my brother died—and it applies now, as my mobility becomes more and more limited.

Often only at the death of a loved one do we recognize clearly the nature of true love. Jones describes the tears that come as like the breaking of waters of the womb before the birth of a child. The task of love as it is experienced in the “desert” is to free us of our well-built-up exoskeleton.

Soul making is paying attention to things invisible that do not lend themselves to manipulation and control. It requires receptivity to the life of the mystic rather than that of being the problem solver. Too often we instead spend most of our energy building up our frail ego by setting before it dozens and dozens of small situations—while the life of the soul is aborted. If the world is to change, then we must change first; and that happens when we live more deeply into our questions and doubts. Sharing our doubt can sometimes bring us together more effectively than sharing our faith, as our faith often then eventually becomes stronger. It is a paradox.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

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Contact: joannaseibert@me.com

Beautiful People

September 22, 2019 joanna seibert

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” —Elizabeth Kübler-Ross in Death: The Final Stage of Growth (Simon & Schuster, 1986), p. 96.

I met at least two beautiful people today. I went to say prayers and give ashes to an older member of our congregation in the hospital, as it is Ash Wednesday. As I was waiting at the elevator with my silver pix filled with a small amount of ashes, an African American wheelchair attendant asked me about the black ash on my forehead. I reminded him that it was Ash Wednesday. He asked for ashes, as it was his Church’s tradition as well. He commented that he usually takes another elevator, but today he stepped into this one, and now he knew why.

So we had “ashes to go” right there as we waited for the elevators to come down. Here was a gentle, sensitive man looking for God’s presence in all he does, especially in busy times. I do not know any of his life circumstances. We gave each other a blessing, and after the elevator came down, we parted as I went up to Michael’s floor.

Michael was sitting up and his stepdaughter was sitting by him. I will always remember his amazing smile as he saw me and reached out to greet me with his left arm tethered to intravenous tubing. Both bandaged legs were elevated in his wheelchair. He had fallen and broken his hip, but he talked about having a puncture in his heel. Kindness and love shone out through his dementia as he apologized for not standing up when I entered his room.

His stepdaughter described him as the sweetest man she had ever known; and just in these few minutes I knew it was true. I longed to stay for hours and simply listen to him talk, even though his confused conversation about his children and his life made no sense. I craved being in the presence of someone who seemed to know only love and kindness, even though he was not connected to mundane reality. I hope I can share Michael with those I talk with about spiritual direction, and remind spiritual friends that love and God do not need to be rational understandings. Love has a distinctive “aura” that can fill a room fuller and faster than the most beautiful or intelligent phrases, something like poetry.

There are many books about dementia and Alzheimer’s. Spiritual friends often ask about finding love and God as they watch a loved one slip away in dementia. Certainly, not all are like Michael.

I usually share two books that have been helpful. Susan Cushman has written Tangles and Plaques: A Mother and Daughter Face Alzheimer’s, about a more difficult situation; and Frank Broyles has published a very practical book about caring for his wife, who has Alzheimer’s: Coach Broyles’ Playbook for Alzheimer’s Caregivers: A Practical Tip Guide. I think that some of the most beautiful people that Kübler-Ross talks about are not only the dying, but those with dementia and those who care for them.